Edgybees Receives Funding for High-Speed Augmented Reality for Drones

Edgybees Receives Funding for High-Speed Augmented Reality for Drones

Israeli company Edgybees, whose technology enables augmented reality (AR) on high speed platforms such as drones and cars, and whose First Response program has been used by emergency teams responding to the Northern California wildfires and post-hurricane flooding in Florida, has announced the completion of a $5.5 million seed funding round. The round includes Verizon Ventures and Motorola Solutions Venture Capital, NFX, 8VC, Venture companies OurCrowd and Aspect Ventures.

The Company will use the funds raised to deliver its AR technologies to new verticals, such as protection, smart cities, automotive, and broadcast media. Edgybees allows developers to make realistic, immersive experiences that overlay three dimensional visuals over live movie from fast-moving cameras. Its patent-pending algorithms allows information flows from cameras mounted on automobiles, drones or body-worn accessories and can maintain virtual overlays locked from the actual world.

The technology was applied to an AR racing game for drones, released in combination DJI in 2017. Following on from that, Edgybees published First Response, a drone-flying program used by emergency responders to orient themselves in perplexing surroundings and to better monitor rapidly evolving conditions. The drone flying program was initially used by officials operating in the Florida Keys in the wake of Hurricane Irma, where they leveraged mapping overlays to discover distress calls from flooded regions.

First Response was employed by local authorities to maintain fireman throughout the Northern California fires, out of harm’s way. Co-founder and CEO Adam Kaplan says, “What started as engineering powering a racing game is now saving lives across the world. The overwhelming response by commercial and industrial drone consumers seeking to leverage AR, and associate with us in the fields of fire, public safety, and search & rescue continues to be amazing, and we can not wait to expand another pair of drone programs into new markets.”

OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved says, “At OurCrowd we’re particularly pleased to invest in groundbreaking tech companies who think they will change the entire world. Why is EdgyBees so unique is they have already demonstrated that their drone applications can save lives in addition to creating applications history by allowing Augmented Reality at high speed.”

Verizon Ventures’ Merav Rotem-Naaman says, “Edgybees’ technology aims to bring AR to much more challenging circumstances than possible – on fast-moving exterior apparatus such as drones and cars. As a pioneer in both fleet direction for cars and drones, as well as in immersive customer electronic encounters, Verizon Ventures is eager to back this technology” Edgybees enables developers to create realistic, immersive experiences that layer three dimensional visuals from cameras over video. Its patent-pending algorithms ingest data flows from cameras mounted on cars, aerial platforms, or body-worn accessories and will maintain virtual overlays locked against the actual world. Motorola Solutions Chief Technology Officer Paul Steinberg says, “Motorola Solutions is committed to researching technology-driven solutions to our customers’ challenges. We see strong potential for Edgybees’ AR applications to assist us deliver abundant, real-time intelligence to public safety and industrial users throughout the moments that matter.”

The Edgybees founding team includes CEO Adam Scott Kaplan; who co-founded and functioned as an executive in technology firms including Xennex Inc. (acquired by Biotime Inc.), Athoc (obtained by Blackberry), and Digital Guardian and Tonian (obtained by Main Data); CTO Menashe Haskin, who formally managed the Israeli development office of Amazon Prime Air and holds over 35 US patents in the fields of aerospace, video and vision processing, information processing and communication; and Director of Platform Nitay Megides, robotics and drone pro, who served in the elite Israeli Defense Forces 8200 Unit and specializes in drone hardware and software design and structure. About Edgybees: Edgybees is headquartered in Israel and has offices in both Europe and the USA.